Don't Hold Me On a Leash, Hold Me By the Hand
by MoustachioPenguin
Summary: Aomine loves dogs, and maybe the new pet shop employee. Or he would, if the brat wasn't so damn annoying- looking at him with puppy eyes and following him around all the time.
1. Chapter 1

_**Title: **__Don't Hold Me On a Leash, Hold Me By the Hand (1/2)_  
_**Rating: **__T_  
_**Pairings: **__Aokise, Kagakuro_  
_**Warnings: **__Unbeta'd, OOCness, cultural inaccuracies_  
_**Word Count:**__ 9000 approx._  
_**Summary: **Aomine loves dogs, and maybe the new pet shop employee.  
__**A/N: **Part 1 of the drabble prompted by BunniesDontTalk. Sorry that it took so long; hopefully it's worth the wait! As for everyone else reading, I hope you enjoy this work! C:_

* * *

It's the beginning of autumn and unbearably hot. The popsicle in his hand melts more quickly than he can eat it, but he doesn't mind. Whenever a drop of the frozen treat escapes his notice and drips on to the overheated skin of his hand, he rejoices at its coolness before licking the substance away. Winter needs to come sooner—the dark material of his uniform seems to absorb any and all heat the sun has to offer; even when the sun isn't present and it's late in to the night, he can still feel a thin layer of sweat covering his body from the heat. It's disgusting, really. If he's sweating, he wants it to be while he's doing something worthwhile, like playing basketball or having a roll in the sheets.

A loud sigh pulls itself from his lips. When was the last time he did something fun, anyways? It seems like he's been stuck at the station for some reason or another the entire week. Getting paid for overtime is great, but he'd rather sleep, eat, bathe and enjoy his time being twenty-two.

'I should call someone,' He thinks to himself, already going through a mental list of all the contacts in his phone—it's been too long since he's had a good fuck.

_Smack_!

The sound pulls him from his fantasies and makes him frown. What was that? When he left the station it had been nearing eleven; who would be out at this hour?

_Smack_!

His pace quickens subconsciously—it sounds as if someone is being hit. He hopes not; he's not in the mood to be settling a quarrel and setting two punks straight, because that will ultimately lead him to returning to the station he had left not twenty minutes ago.

"Ugh," He groans, rounding the corner of the local pet store before he has to stop in surprise. Unlike what he had previously thought, there is no fight, only a pathetic excuse for a human that cowers on the ground and lets himself be hit and degraded. It strikes a nerve with him—the actions of both, and before his mind is able to catch up with his body, he's tossing his popsicle aside, rushing forward and calling out, "Hey!"

"Shit!" The man says, pulling away from the blonde on the ground quickly while uttering something Aomine can't hear before he dashes away. Aomine goes to chase after him, but the sound of wet coughing distracts him. When he turns to face the blonde on the ground, he watches as the boy curls inwards on himself; out of pain or in order to protect himself, Aomine doesn't care, but he has to get the boy to speak to make sure he's okay.

"Hey," He calls, more softly this time as he kneels beside the other. Surprisingly, the kid doesn't flinch away; he only looks up at Aomine with wide, brown eyes. It reminds him of a dog—a beaten and betrayed dog. Unable to help himself, he trails the backs of his fingers along the dark bruises that begin to show on the other's fair skin—it looks like it hurts. "You okay?"

When a too bright smile spreads across lips that are bloodied and split, he grimaces. The mess before him chuckles as if the situation is amusing and subtly nuzzles in to his touch. Brown eyes look up at him through long lashes, happy and hopeful and trusting. It drives a shudder down Aomine's spine, because it's the same way the dogs in the pet shop they are outside of look at him whenever he visits, whenever _anyone_ comes to visit that may adopt them. He loves dogs, but this guy—this sorry excuse of a person—he doesn't like him one bit.

* * *

The route he patrols includes passing by the pet shop. After the events that transpired days ago, he doesn't think about it, but upon returning to his work after his time off he realizes that it's more than the store he passes. A certain pet shop employee will always see him and begin smiling like a fool and waving frantically to gain his attention. The flurry of movements causes him to look, and when he does the blonde always seems to light up and bounce a bit. Aomine doesn't know why; it's not like they talked much after the scuffle he had to end—the bastard actually just thanked him before assuring him he would be fine on his way home before he up and left. No charges pressed or anything, which aggravates him because who the _fuck_ takes abuse like that and is okay with it?

At one point Aomine thinks he's gone crazy, because as he passes the store he notices that the bruises that had marred the boy's face before are no longer there. It causes him to frown and think over what had happened days ago, but he's _positive_ there was a fight. Or was he just that damn tired that he was hallucinating things? But the blonde acts as if they know each other, and even if Aomine visits the dogs in the pet shop too often, he's never met the kid because of that—he remembers all the employees there and this bastard is definitely new.

The doubts he has about his sanity are quelled when he passes by the store once more and sees the blonde at the windows cleaning off smudges left by thoughtless children. Before he's noticed, he takes note that there's a split in a plump lower lip. Just as he convinces himself that he hadn't imagined anything, the employee on the other side of the glass sees him and smiles at him happily. The fool must be wearing makeup; it unnerves him how well it's done. Aomine rolls his eyes and takes longer strides than he had been. Just looking at such a pathetic person pisses him off; even if the other acts like a dog, he's damn annoying.

* * *

It takes about a week, but he notices that the blonde idiot isn't visible through the shop window one day. Even though he's on the clock, he steps in, breathing a sigh of relief that he can finally visit the dogs he's grown fond of now that the strange kid isn't around to harass him with exaggerated greetings. Aomine walks to the back of the store, taking a familiar path between displays and aisles before he finally reaches the wall of glass cases holding a variety of puppies. Upon seeing him, a majority of them bump their noses against their cages or scratch at the glass that keeps them enclosed. A smile spreads across his face without his notice as he watches each of them; when he sees a new dog in one of the bottom cases, he raises his brows and walks over to it, crouching down to get a good view of golden fur and an excitedly wagging tail.

When he places his finger to the glass, the puppy begins licking frantically. The sight makes him smirk; dogs really are the best—enthusiastic and loyal, playful and honest. It's nice. A welcome change from what he deals with on a daily basis.

"You'll get adopted soon, huh?" He mutters, and from behind the soundproof glass the dog yips and begins to chase its tail. The words that escape him make him pause as he wonders about another dog— one that had been present for nearly a year now and had never been adopted. Although he hopes it was adopted, he had also been wanting to convince his friend to get it as an anniversary gift for said friend's boyfriend. Aomine sighs, a bit disgruntled at the loss. Whatever pessimism he feels though fades at the sound of a familiar bark. He looks over his shoulder and sees the ball of black and white fluff he had been thinking about, but before he can grin at the dog, he notices that it's being held by the annoying, hopeless, blonde idiot bastard that has been irritating him constantly since that night a week or so ago.

"This one is cute, huh?" The worker says, smiling and looking towards the case housing the golden retriever. The kid crouches beside him, the dog in his arms nuzzled closely to him before turning to him with a hopeful look in his eye. "Do you think he'll be adopted?"

The nametag the blonde wears reads 'Kise Ryouta'. His eyes trail up to meet expectant brown; he wonders what the Hell is going through this idiot's head and frowns slightly. Returning his attention to the cases of dogs before them, he nods. "Yeah, he seems like a good dog." He says simply. The response causes Kise to beam happily; a pale hand runs through blonde hair and he notices a faint pink dusting across the boy's cheekbones. Aomine doesn't understand the reaction, but even when they first met, Kise had been strange. He doesn't ponder over the meeting; he only takes advantage of the two-way radio at his hip that projects a voice stating that there was a traffic accident some blocks away.

When he leaves, the bell above the door ringing loudly, Kise wishes him a good day and waves politely. The warm smile on the blonde's lips as the kid watches him go makes him frown. Kise Ryouta is most definitely strange.

* * *

Since that meeting, Aomine can't help but to glance inside the windows of the pet shop whenever he passes by. Every day he'll look from out of his peripheral to see the blonde playing with the animals, cleaning, restocking, or helping customers—regardless of what Kise is doing though, he'll always glance through the window at him and smile that unnervingly perfect smile, warm and hopeful and contented. Depending on how busy the kid is, Aomine will be offered a wave too; no matter how he's greeted, he only offers the idiot a scowl and eye roll in return. One day after their usual exchange, he glances back and notices Kise's lips stretch further than normal before they open in a soundless laugh.

He wonders what it sounds like.

* * *

The bell above the door rings upon his entering the store. As soon as the chimes end, barking starts as a ball of black and white fluff charges at him. Before he starts his trek towards the back of the store to visit the other dogs, he scoops the one that paws at his legs from off the ground and in to his arms. The dog's tail wags happily and a small pink tongues laps at his face; he tilts his head away a bit in response, but the dog tries to crawl across his shirt in an attempt to close the distance. "Cut it out," He mutters, and the dog obediently stops and sits contentedly on his arm, peering over his shoulder at the outside world. He scratches behind the dog's ear absently with his free hand and begins walking back towards the other dogs. The one-sided conversation he shares with the dog should probably be embarrassing, but he doesn't care, "I'm going to bring a friend in to adopt you; with your eyes you can sucker him easy, #2."

An excited yip follows his statement and he snickers. When he brings his friend in, the other may pass out from the sheer number of canines in one space. It'll be great, but he doesn't doubt that moron will adopt this pup in his arms. It has the same eyes as his friend's boyfriend, after all.

"Officer-san?" Someone calls from behind him. When he turns to look, he sees Kise leaning over the counter at the front of the store. When had the kid gotten there? Aomine was sure that when he entered, the annoying idiot wasn't present. The bell above the door rings though and Aomine realizes that Kise must have been helping another customer before ringing up their things. Just his luck.

As soon as the blonde recognizes him fully, a bright grin spreads across a too handsome face. Aomine bristles at the response; why is this idiot happy to see him? They've talked _twice_. Once of which was because of an _assault_.

"What?" He asks.

"Ah! Come here, come here," The kid says, waving his hand towards himself to emphasize his words. For a moment he stands still, but decides against ignoring the boy—who knows what Kise Ryouta will do if he's neglected. Aomine figures the blonde would only start whimpering like a kicked dog, but best to be safe.

"What is it?" He asks, sauntering over slowly, #2 still cradled in his arm. As soon as he stands at the register, Kise beams up at him before scooting back so that his body isn't lying across the counter.

"I want to give you something!" Kise says, crouching down and out of Aomine's sight. He briefly humors the thought that Kise is a psychopath getting ready to pull a gun on him, but even with the outlandish thought he makes no move to reach for his own gun that remains at his side. Strange or not, he doesn't think Kise is crazy.

"Why?" He asks, because he really doesn't want anything from the kid.

"It took a while to get it, but here!" Kise says upon standing to full height again. The blonde places a popsicle stick on the counter that reads 'You win!' before smiling up at him. In turn, Aomine stares at the stick with drawn brows, because _what the fuck?_ Kise notices the look and laughs, pushing the stick towards him. "Yours was ruined when you helped me that one day."

"Ah." He says, moving to deposit #2 back on to the ground. Aomine puts his hands in his pockets and rocks back on to his heels. This is the first time either of them has spoken of the incident since it's happened. "It was a popsicle. It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal though," The blonde pouts while picking up the stick and twirling it around long fingers. He looks up at Aomine through his long lashes—it's a better sight than the last time he had been fixed with such a look, but only because one of the boy's eyes isn't swollen from being punched. Kise's pout morphs in to a small smile; the kid taps the wooden stick against a full lower lip and Aomine can't help himself from staring. Blue eyes watch as Kise's smile stretches wider, and how the blonde slowly stretches an arm forward until the popsicle stick is deposited in to the breast pocket of his uniform shirt. Kise withdraws and rests his chin a top one of his hands, the other lying idly on the counter. He smiles and continues, "Because Officer-san saved me. Thank you."

Another customer enters the shop; Kise greets the elderly woman happily. Aomine excuses himself, glancing back after he exits the shop to see the blonde slowly escorting the woman towards an aisle for birds. Before he can continue on his route, Kise looks over his shoulder and sees him. Of course the idiot smiles, and as usual Aomine scowls and rolls his eyes.

* * *

Whenever he's working and passes by the pet shop, he finds himself entering without noticing. It takes the bell chiming above him and a happy welcome from Kise to snap him from his thoughts. At first Kise pesters him to the point he'll leave only a few minutes after entering the shop, but after days and weeks, he spends longer amounts of time in the other's presence. They talk idly, or rather Kise does. While the blonde chatters about meaningless things, Aomine plays with the dogs and #2. It's pleasant, and before he knows it he starts to enjoy hearing the sound of Kise's voice—the way the kid is so expressive and how the kid has a quirky way of speech.

By the time Kise becomes brave enough to ask questions, Aomine answers without qualms—it just feels _natural_. With how easily the blonde wormed his way in to Aomine's life, he should be worried, but he doesn't even think about it. When it comes to Kise, a lot of minute things he usually catches seem to go over his head—so he answers questions he would never consider answering before as if it's nothing. When he asks questions in turn, he doesn't even realize that they go ignored, twisted until the conversation is once again about him.

"Do I like animals? Well I work at a pet shop, officer! But what about you? Officer-san really likes dogs, it seems. Do you have any at home? It's nice to have someone greet you when you get home, huh?"

"I don't really have a favorite, but people say I act like them! What's your favorite breed of dog? The golden retriever is the cutest, right?"

"My hours? Well, my friend has school so I cover for him a lot; you work a lot of hours too though, right? And you live alone as well; it must be lonely whenever you get back, huh? You should consider adopting."

Aomine isn't sure if Kise is charming or sly, but the kid seems so innocent that he settles on charming. Besides that thought, he still believes Kise is strange. That fact doesn't turn him away though; it draws him closer because aside from strange, Kise is _interesting_. Unlike his coworkers or the women he takes to bed, Kise keeps him wondering, keeps him questioning about what's going on in a seemingly ditsy head. It's like the kid is a challenge, and Aomine _loves_ that.

"I've never asked Officer-san for his name." Kise says one day. It takes Aomine by surprise, because they've been talking for a while now. How had he not realized? And better yet, why hadn't Kise asked earlier? "Is it okay if I ask for Officer-san's name?"

He pauses to ponder, giving Kise a calculating look that the blonde merely tilts his head at inquisitively before he sighs, shifting against where he stands against the front counter. "Aomine Daiki," He says, and from where Kise stands in the aisle before him, he can see how the kid smiles happily at the new information. It's just a name, but it seems to mean a lot to Kise.

"Officer Aominecchi." The blonde says, and Aomine feels his eye twitch in annoyance. His reaction pulls a chuckle out of Kise that Aomine rolls his eyes at. Telling Kise not to call him that probably won't amount to anything; the idiot is as persistent and stubborn as he is. Besides that, a part of him doesn't mind being referred to in such a fond way.

"Kise Ryouta." He calls back, and Kise briefly fumbles with the cans of food he places on the shelf. The blonde doesn't turn to look at him, but Aomine sees how brightly the other smiles at the simple words that he's never bothered calling until now. Once again he thinks about how strange the boy is. As he leans back against the front counter, he relaxes and listens as Kise begins rattling on about something completely unrelated to anything they've talked about before. On occasion he'll grunt or offer a short response, but for the most part he listens and wonders just why Kise talks so much. Maybe the kid is lonely and taking advantage of his company? But the kid has friends (or at least he thinks so) that he talks to; maybe Kise is the type of person that doesn't like solitude?

"Kise." He calls again, and the blonde shuts up and looks at him with wide brown eyes and a small smile. A smirk pulls at his lips and he snickers, "More than the dogs here, I think _you_ want to be adopted."

Aomine misses the stunned look on the blonde's face when the two-way radio at his hip goes off with a flurry of static noises. Between the loud sounds he hears about something or another happening near the station; he excuses himself and Kise tells him to be safe and have a good day. It surprises him to hear such a thing. 'Be safe.' Maybe it's because he has yet to settle down with a woman, but it makes him happy to hear something so caring from someone. Once outside he glances over his shoulder back in to the shop. Kise holds his face in his hands, but upon noticing him looking back, pulls away to offer him a bright grin and a wave. Aomine feels his own lips tug upward at the corner; he offers Kise a short wave before he's off.

* * *

It's a few days later when he's next able to visit the pet shop. The weather has cooled considerably, but he finds it easier to breathe the crisp, chilling air. For the first time in a long while, Kise isn't there when he enters the store. He thinks about asking the employee on the clock currently, but said employee is occupied with an actual customer, so Aomine goes about his business visiting the pups in the back of the store. #2 comes out to see him, nudging at his hands until he pets it and growling softly whenever he stops. He doesn't want to admit it to himself, but he thinks he somehow stopped coming to visit his favorite animals and instead started coming to see Kise.

"Don't look at me like that," He growls at #2 and the judging look the dog offers him. The pup seems to sigh at him and he shoves it playfully across the tiled floors. #2 barks at him before running at him, hopping up on to its haunches and scratching at his bent leg. For fun, he snickers and slides #2 across the floor once more, stopping only when he notices through the window a nice car pull up along the curb.

Curiously, he stands to get a better look. When he sees a familiar blonde get out of the car, practically _glowing_ even without the bright smile across his pretty face, Aomine finds himself becoming confused. Confused and then _angry_ because the person that exits the driver's side of the car is that bastard from all those nights ago—the one that had been _beating_ Kise outside this very shop.

His heart beats hard against his chest—loud, powerful thumps that are deafening to his ears. Blue eyes narrow in annoyance, anger, concern and beside him #2 whimpers. Aomine's body is tense; when he watches the nameless man walk around the car and sees Kise throw himself in to the man's waiting arms, he breathes loudly through his nose. He watches silently as the man presses kisses along Kise's neck and how the blonde flushes—how large hands trail down Kise's sides before curving around the kid's ass and how words are whispered in to Kise's ear that causes the blonde to hide embarrassedly in a broad shoulder.

What the _fuck_ is going on?

Whether it's him growling or one of the dogs, he doesn't know. He doesn't care either; he just needs to know what the Hell Kise is doing with that bastard. Through all the red he sees, he finds himself storming towards the door. By the time he makes it to the front, the man and his nice car is gone and Kise stands just inside the door humming a whimsical tune. When brown eyes open and see him, they light up and the coy smile on Kise's lips blooms in to a wide grin.

"Officer Aominecchi!" Kise says, and while this close the bluenette realizes that Kise is wearing the same clothes he had the day before. Even if he hadn't been able to talk with the boy, he'd still seen him and _damn it_ he recognizes the fitted, long sleeve black shirt with the scooped neckline; Aomine wonders if perhaps Kise used makeup to hide any hickies like he used to hide the _bruises_ that man left on him. Kise takes a step towards him, looking up at him quizzically and with a quirked brow, "Aominecchi? Are you okay?"

"What the fuck was that about?" He snaps, glancing quickly in the direction of where the man Kise had showed up with had been. "Have you forgotten that man beat the shit out of you barely a month ago?"

At his sudden lash out, Kise takes a step back. There's a surprised look in the blonde's eyes that quickly changes to something akin to shame and then understanding, followed by humor. Aomine doesn't understand the cycle of emotions, but it's Kise and even if he wants to think, he's too pissed to. The kid before him chuckles, running a hand through his tousled hair and says, "What happened back then was a misunderstanding."

Silence. Even if he wanted to say something, he can't seem to find his voice, but when he does he _seethes_, "Misunderstanding? Kise, he _hit_ you."

"I—"The blonde starts as he shuffles anxiously from one foot to another. He glances cautiously up at Aomine through thick lashes; Aomine knows this look and growls because this brat isn't pulling a fast one on him. Kise chuckles at Aomine's response and glances to the left, "I was in the wrong at that time. It really was a misunderstanding—Shougo-kun is actually a very kind person."

"You were in the—"He starts, stopping because of disbelief over what he's hearing. For a brief moment he looks away to collect himself, turning back to Kise and continuing tersely, "I don't care what was going on; you don't hit someone when there's a misunderstanding. You _talk about it_."

"It's fine! We talked about it and everything is good now." Kise says, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "I don't know why Aominecchi is so angry."

"Maybe because you're okay with being _abused_." He hisses. "Do you really think you deserve that?"

No response. But then again, he doesn't wait for one. Aomine shoves past Kise without another thought, grimacing at the loud chime of the bell as he exits in to the cooling autumn air. He doesn't look back at Kise—he doesn't want to see that damn annoying face, doesn't want to see haunting bruises long since faded, doesn't want to see hickies he can only imagine the whereabouts of—he doesn't want to see Kise at all. He knew he hated this kid, spineless and naïve and _pathetic_; he knew it since he first met the brat.

"Damn it," He growls, stomping throughout the rest of his route. Why is he so _pissed_?

* * *

It's childish, but he stops going to the pet shop in order to avoid seeing Kise. It's unfair to the blonde, but Aomine doesn't know how he would act knowing that the kid is in such an unhealthy relationship. 'It's none of your business,' he tells himself, but regardless of how he tries to convince himself, he stays on edge over the matter. Aomine thinks of the what ifs and the whys; it doesn't make sense to him—someone like Kise could have whoever he wants at the drop of a hat, no doubt. The kid is handsome and charismatic; the blonde can carry on a conversation without pauses and is fucking bubbly like no other, so why this 'Shougo' bastard? Is it because the man is rich? He can't imagine Kise being so shallow though—the idiot is too innocent for that, or so he thinks. Over the past few days he's realized that he knows little to nothing about the boy, somehow. All he does know are little things that don't need to be said, like how Kise likes to talk, how Kise cares about his personal appearance, how Kise likes engaging with other people and how Kise seems to thrive on attention and praise. Aomine knows all these little things, but not obvious things like age, favorites, opinions. Knowing they had been talking for so long and Aomine has learned next to _nothing_ is just—

It's depressing. To make matters worse, it's _embarrassing_ too, because he wants to know.

"So you're the new one, right?" A voice scoffs from in front of him. When Aomine looks up, he sees the man that had dropped Kise off at work a few days ago. Instantly he feels his body tense and his eyes narrow; what's this asshole doing here?

"What are you talking about?" Aomine asks in as close to a disinterested drone as he can.

The grey haired man scoffs, shoving his hands in to the pockets of expensive looking slacks. Silver eyes bore in to him, brows furrowing in annoyance, "Don't shit with me; I saw you watching through the window that day."

"You would have seen me sooner if you didn't run off like a scared bitch that night a while back." Aomine taunts, leveling Shougo with an equally intimidating stare. His response seems to amuse Shougo, because the man pulls back with a rich, sardonic laugh. Aomine grunts, toning down his attitude towards the civilian, "I don't know what you're talking about though. New one of what?"

"He broke up with me later that day; with the looks you were shooting me I assumed it was because of you feeding him some bullshit about how he deserves better." Shougo says.

"He does deserve better." Aomine responds with a scowl.

Shougo laughs loudly at his retort and Aomine's brows furrow in confusion. The man wipes away imaginary tears and sighs amusedly, offering Aomine a look as if he's superior to the cop. Shougo says, "You must not have slept with him yet. A surprise, really; he's quick to take advantage of others. Allow me to let you in on the secret though; Kise Ryouta is a _bitch_. He'll bend over for anyone so long as they give him some attention, a place to stay, and food to eat. Ryouta will take what he's given—he'll receive it greedily like the whore he is—"

There are gasps around him; his fist aches. When he comes to, he's being held back by one of his coworkers that yell at him to stop. Aomine realizes then that he's crouching over Shougo, fist drawn back and ready to sock the man _again_. The man beneath him fumes, but makes no move to hit him; Shougo may be a bastard, but he's smart enough to know when to pull back. Aomine's not as smart, but he drops his fist and allows himself to be pulled back and to the side.

As he leans heavily against a wall, watching as another cop talks to Shougo about what happened and how they'll get everything sorted, he closes his eyes and counts to three. Right now he needs to calm down—he needs to calm down and think because he's in deep shit right now.

One.

Two.

Three—

_Damnit!_

He's still pissed off. What the fuck is wrong with that man? Why would Kise want to be with such an asshole!? Someone that would treat and speak of him as if he was so little and—Aomine doesn't get it!

When he opens his eyes, Shougo is walking away; his coworker comes up to him, shaking his head as he sighs. 'Haizaki-san' apparently isn't going to press charges against him, but he can be sure that the station will punish him accordingly for jumping a civilian for no reason. Aomine defends himself by saying he was provoked, but when asked about what, he can't answer. What's he supposed to say, anyways? 'That man was talking shit about a pet shop employee and it pissed me off, my bad.' Yeah, right.

While the situation is talked over by his coworker and the police chief, all he can hear being said is, _Kise Ryouta is a bitch. He'll bend over for anyone—he receives it greedily like the whore he is. _He's told to go home, that they'll discuss everything tomorrow morning; the chief looks tired and deep in thought. The man tells him not to worry and rest, so Aomine leaves without an argument.

As he walks home, he reaches up to the pocket on his chest, feeling the popsicle stick Kise had given him as thanks. What Haizaki said was probably an exaggeration—it had to be. Kise is young and stupid, sure, but he's not—

Pulling out his phone, he goes through a list of his contacts. He doesn't want to think about this; he just wants to go home, fuck, and sleep.

* * *

The punishment he receives the following morning for his actions is more mild than it probably should be; it's no secret that he's well-liked by the chief, but he hopes the older man didn't stick his neck out to help him or anything. As much as he prefers a two week suspension with pay over being fired, he doesn't want to have to owe anyone anything. When he tries bringing up such concerns, he's brushed off—told that while he's useful, he's not _that_ important. It's a lie; the chief and he snicker about it and shake their heads before he leaves for an extended vacation with orders to get his head straight. What better way to do that then to play basketball all day and fuck all night?

His initial, outlandish plan distracts him for all of two days before he gets bored—before his mind starts wandering to Kise and what the idiot is doing. According to Haizaki they broke up; is Kise okay though? Was he beaten because of taking Aomine's words to heart? Curiosity eats at him, and before he knows it, he's walking towards the small store.

Through the window he can see Kise, who thankfully looks untouched. A part of him knows that it could be makeup again, but he chooses to ignore the pessimistic thought. Kise looks put out enough without Aomine's added negativity. A part of him conceitedly believes it's because he's neglected the kid the past few days, but he pushes the silly thought from his head before he has a chance to further entertain it; if Kise is upset about anything, it's undoubtedly about the breakup with Haizaki.

When he opens the door to the shop, Kise welcomes him in a voice that's only used on other customers—it throws him, but he ignores it. The blonde is obviously distracted; not even lifting his head to offer a proper greeting. #2, on the other hand, welcomes him warmly by scurrying across clean floors and yipping excitedly. The reaction of the pup seems to drag Kise out of whatever thought he had been caught in and turn to finally look at him. Brown eyes widen in recognition before squinting at the girth of a smile.

"Aominecchi! Welcome!" The boy calls, greeting him properly this time. Although it should probably be awkward because of how Aomine had stormed out last time, it's not. With how brightly Kise smiles at him, it seems as if nothing had even happened. Aomine doesn't even remember that the blonde had reacted similarly with Haizaki after the beating.

"Hey," He says, walking closer to the front counter.

"I didn't even recognize you when you came in!" Kise laughs, placing his forearms on to the counter and leaning forward with a sheepish smile on his face. He continues, "You're handsome even out of uniform!"

"Shut up." Aomine grunts, looking down at Kise with fake annoyance clouding his features.

"Makes me wonder what you'd look like in a suit." The blonde teases before snickering softly when Aomine rolls his eyes.

"Like your douchebag ex-boyfriend, no doubt." Aomine grunts, putting his hands in to his pockets and looking away with irritation. Kise looks up at him in surprise before chuckling awkwardly.

"So you heard about that?"

"Yeah. He wasn't happy about it." Aomine says, and as an afterthought adds, "I punched him."

Kise gasps and straightens from leaning on the counter, looking up at Aomine worriedly. "Aominecchi!" The kid says, tone reprimanding, "Why would you do that?" He can't tell, but he hopes that Kise doesn't actually _care_ about the bastard's wellbeing after everything that has happened.

"Because he deserved it." Aomine states with a growl. "Would you rather me not?"

"What? No—it's just—"Kise starts, brows drawing as he tries to think of what to say. Brown eyes glance up at him after a few seconds and full lips quirk up at one side—the expression on Kise's face is foreign, genuinely amused and thankful all at once. "You're a cop. You can't go punching civilians just because they do something to make you mad, Aominecchi." Kise says.

"Eh." He shrugs, "I needed the vacation anyways."

"You were fired?" Kise exclaims, hands grasping at the flat surface of the counter for purchase. The kid looks panicked and guilty—Aomine enjoys watching the emotions change at a moment's notice; it's strange that someone can feel so many things in a matter of a few seconds.

"Suspended. I'll go back to work in two weeks." Aomine says.

"So I guess that means I won't be seeing you as often for a while, huh?" Kise strains a grin and forces a laugh, "I'm going to be so lonely!"

"Ah, I'll still stop by, you idiot." He scoffs, and Kise brightens. Teasingly, Aomine adds as he picks up #2 from the ground, "I come for the dogs, you know?"

"Eh?" Kise whines, the pout on his lips quickly pulling in to an uncontained smile at their light and easy conversation. The kid continues, leaning back on to the counter casually, "So now that you have all this free time, what do you plan to do?"

"Ah; I don't know." He shrugs, scratching beneath #2's chin with the same hand he holds the small dog in. Aomine adds, "Maybe have a homemade meal? It's been a while, although that's probably because I can't cook worth shit."

"Aominecchi lives by himself and can't cook?" Kise teases, head tilting to the side quizzically.

"If I get hungry enough for real food, I mooch off of a friend." Aomine shrugs. It's an affordable way to not starve, no doubt, but he's walked in on a number of risqué things he's never wanted to see before between two of his closest friends. His retinas still burn from the last time.

"Aominecchi should let me cook for him!" Kise says brightly, "It's the least I could do, with how much trouble I've caused you. I'm a good cook too, I promise."

"Isn't that too much of a hassle? It's not like I'm expecting anything from you." Aomine grunts, shifting his weight from one leg to another. The blonde before him simply shakes his head and beams, grabbing a random sticky note with cats on it and scribbling down a neat list of ingredients. Upon finishing, Kise peels the note from the stack, reaching forward to stick the paper on to Aomine's sweater. #2 sniffs the paper curiously and Aomine scoffs, pulling the paper off of him to look at it.

"I want to," Kise reassures him, looking up at him a warm look in his brown eyes. It makes him falter—he doesn't invite strangers over before he truly gets to know them, and yet he tells Kise yes. That he'll swing by around seven when the other gets off work. It's becoming a problem, how he gets caught up in the blonde, how he stops thinking when Kise gives him certain looks and how he submits so easily whenever Kise so much as bats his eyes. It's a problem, but he's not aware of it, even with Haizaki's words still fresh in his mind.

_He's quick to take advantage of others… Kise Ryouta is a __**bitch**__._

* * *

As luck would have it, it starts raining halfway to his apartment with no signs of letting up. Although Kise jokes about it and doesn't let the stormy weather dampen his mood, Aomine does, because he _hates_ how his clothes cling to him like a second skin. It's uncomfortable and cold and pisses him off. The blonde walking beside him tells him to lighten up, that it's just a little bit of water; Aomine goes to snap at him but steps in a puddle that soaks his shoe and _damn_.

By the time they make it to his apartment, he's ready to call the night quits and go to bed, but Kise is still beside him looking excited and ready to cook and Aomine supposes he _is_ hungry. With a sigh of resignation, he slips off his shoes, setting the bags of groceries he carries beside him. He figures Kise waits patiently behind him, familiarizing himself with his home, but when he turns around he sees that Kise doesn't care in the least and is more focused on shaking water from his body like the wet dog he is.

"Hey," Aomine reprimands; Kise stops and offers him a sheepish smile. With a huff, he steps further in to the house, turning to look away only after he says, "Don't make a mess, you hear?"

"Of course." Kise says, glancing around upon his leaving. There's not much to see—his house is sparsely decorated and only contains a few personal pictures and belongings here and there. Regardless, Kise seems to spot something and asks, "Is this Aominecchi's girlfriend?"

"Who?" Aomine asks, walking back from where he had gone with a towel he promptly throws at the blonde. Because of his distraction with the photograph, Kise doesn't notice and is hit in the side of the head, sending him stumbling to the side a step from surprise. Aomine walks closer with a raised brow, confused because he hasn't had a steady girlfriend for a long while now. When he sees the face of his childhood friend grinning up at him, he scoffs, returning to towel drying his hair. "Satsuki? Hell no. She got married a while ago."

At his response, Kise seems to sigh with relief. From beneath the towel though, Aomine can't see. "Dry yourself off." He grunts, walking over and giving the towel a rough rub to get his point across. Kise smiles up at him from underneath the material and Aomine sighs—such a kid. "I started the bath; you can go ahead and take one first."

"No, it's okay!" Kise says, properly drying himself after the prompting. Once he finishes, he scoops up the bags on the floor and lifts them slightly, "I'll get started on these first."

"You sure?" He asks, raising a brow. Aomine isn't the type of guy that will go out of his way to be polite—if he can get in to the bath first, he'll damn well take that opportunity. The blonde nods at him with a soft smile. With a brief motion towards the kitchen and a call that he'll be out soon, he goes to bathe.

* * *

After settling in to the warm water, he feels himself relaxing. The day has been anything but stressful, but it still feels nice to take a load off. To make the situation even better, once he gets out there will be a hot, home cooked meal waiting for him. The mere thought sends a shudder of pleasure shooting up his spine as he imagines just what Kise is doing in the kitchen now, what's being prepared for him.

"Hopefully Kise can actually cook," He sighs to himself, sinking further in to the water surrounding him. Aomine would hate to imagine a table full of good food only to come out of the bathroom to see fire. With that thought in mind, he forces himself out of the bath with a groan. Kise may say that he can cook, but Aomine needs to make sure.

Languidly, he dries off and pulls on some sweats. Out of habit, he walks out of the bathroom with shirt in hand, putting it on as he walks down the hall towards the kitchen. The air smells delicious; Aomine can feel himself salivating at the scent of whatever it is Kise is making. With a hand placed to his stomach to quell its growling, he saunters in to the kitchen, saddling up close behind the blonde. Leaning over the kid's shoulder to see what's going on, he says, "It smells good."

"Ack!" Kise starts, bumping in to him in a panic. To steady him, Aomine places a hand at the boy's hip and grunts out a rough, 'be careful.' As soon as he thinks Kise's scare passes, he moves to the side in order to lean against the counter. Kise smiles at him embarrassedly and says in a breathy voice, "Sorry, you startled me."

"My bad," He says half-heartedly, not really interested in Kise's feelings more than the food just right of him. Leaning his head back, Aomine tries to get a better view of what's being prepared. Regardless of what it is, he's sure it will taste better than takeout or store bought meals. "So you actually know how to cook?"

"Of course I do; that's what I told Aominecchi, right?" Kise asks in return, brown eyes straying to look at him amusedly before turning back to the meal.

Aomine shrugs, ignoring the question in favor of asking another, "Where'd you learn?"

"I taught myself." Kise says proudly.

The statement makes him pause briefly and think about an earlier thought he had—about how he doesn't know anything personal about Kise. Aomine supposes he knows two things now, but in relation to what the kid knows about him, those two things are nothing. He grumbles, "So I know your name and that you're a self-taught cook."

"Eh?" Kise asks, turning to look at him curiously.

"I realized the other day that I don't know anything about you." Aomine says, looking away from Kise with a click of his tongue, "It's annoying."

"Aominecchi wants to know about me?" Kise drawls, a smile blooming across his face. Long fingers switch the burner settings on the stove to low before the blonde steps back a bit. The words that pass from the blonde's full lips makes Aomine's brows furrow, because why _shouldn't_ he want to know about Kise, a guy who is currently in his home cooking him food?

"Unless you're secretly a convict trying to get in good with the police." Aomine deadpans, and Kise laughs. It's a nice sound, Aomine decides. He continues, "I wouldn't mind."

"Then you'll have to continue visiting me down at the shop." Kise says, as if Aomine had been considering not. He almost wants to scoff, but stops himself as Kise casually backs up towards the entryway of the kitchen. The blonde's already fitted clothes remain clinging to him from the rain; although he doesn't like the feel of wet clothes on himself, he thinks Kise pulls it off nicely. The boy says with a playful wink, "Aominecchi knows my hours~! I'll leave you to eat though! Just let that sit for another few minutes and it'll be ready."

"Where the Hell are you going?" Aomine asks when Kise turns to start walking towards the entryway of the house.

"Huh? To a friend's house; I don't want to impose here." Kise laughs, arms crossed to create warmth around a body covered in cold, damp clothes. The kid bats his eye lashes teasingly and adds, "Unless Officer-san wants me to sta—choo!" Whatever joke Kise had been trying to pull is cut short by a soft sneeze that causes the kid tries to hide behind a closed fist.

"Don't be an idiot; get in the bath before you catch your death." Aomine huffs, crossing his arms imposingly across his chest. Kise offers him a confused look that he brushes off in favor of motioning down the hall. "Down the hall to the right; I left a change of clothes in there for you."

At his words, Kise looks a bit confused.

"You smell like a wet dog, hurry up and clean yourself up." He grunts; Kise's laugh sounds a bit strained this time. As the kid walks away, Aomine remains leaning against the kitchen counter, watching the retreating back. He wonders why the kid suddenly looked like he had the first night they met—betrayed. Where's that trusting and hopeful looks he's grown used to? With a heavy sigh, he turns to look at the simmering food.

It really is nice coming home and having a meal waiting.

* * *

It's as he's watching a pre-recorded basketball game that Kise comes out. For a while he's too absorbed in the TV to notice, but when the opposing team makes a basket and he groans, dropping his head back against the sofa he sits against, he notices the blonde boy from out of his peripheral. The sight causes him to start, because how long had Kise been standing there? Why hadn't the idiot said anything?

"What are you doing? Sit down already—I'm hungry." He says, waving his hand disinterestedly at the other. When he briefly glances over towards the blonde, his movements stop completely and his mouth remains partially open, because _hey_.

"You waited for me?" Kise asks in surprise, shuffling over in a fitted tee and dark sweats that are just a bit too long and it's the least sexy outfit in the world but they're _his clothes_ and it's just a strange and surprisingly nice sight, especially with how Kise looks anxious where he stands—something Aomine isn't sure he's ever seen Kise look before. "You could've started without me, Aominecchi."

Aomine tears his eyes away from Kise and looks down at the food he has set out on the small table in his living room. Nothing has been touched yet, much to his own surprise. It's probably thanks to the basketball game that he managed not to scarf down everything though. He shrugs casually, leaning back against the foot of the couch as he stretches out his legs. "I decided to wait. Now sit so we can eat."

"You just want to eat?" Kise asks, walking over slowly and lowering himself down perpendicular to him. He can see brown eyes peering at him curiously, almost warily, and has to stop himself from shooting Kise a judgmental look. A while back Aomine decided that Kise wasn't crazy, but maybe he is. What's this kid going on about? Why's he acting so reserved?

"And watch TV, yeah." He says, already picking up his pair of chopsticks and uncovering food to pick at. When he notices Kise doesn't make a move to touch anything, he grunts, leveling the other with an impatient scowl. "I'm not going to arrest you if you eat, you know? I've given you permission to be here."

"Is Aominecchi allowed to arrest people while he's suspended." Kise teases, coming back to a semblance of his usual self after his comments. The smile the boy wears is still cautious, but seems to be relaxing by the second. Maybe the blonde is just nervous? He doesn't know why, considering the idiot invited himself here in the first place to cook for him, but Aomine supposes he can be scary company.

"You want to find out?" He smirks, a playful glint in his eyes before—

_Bzzz!_

He snaps his attention back to the TV in time to see a replay of an amazing play made by the _wrong_ team. Aomine groans in frustration, slumping where he sits until his leg is stretched beneath the entirety of the table. Beside him, Kise laughs, turning to look at the television while scooping two bowls of rice. The blonde tilts his head to the side curiously, taking note of what they're watching, "You like basketball?"

"Yeah." Aomine answers easily, sitting upright again and taking the bowl of rice in to his hand. He takes a few bites of food, eyes trained to the television before them before glancing at Kise who watches the game idly. "What about you?"

"I've never played." Kise says, turning to smile at him sheepishly. "It looks like a lot of fun though; I'd love to learn someday!"

"Ah," Aomine says, focusing back on the game. "I'll take you out sometime. I'll invite my friends and we can play two-on-two."

"Really?" Kise asks excitedly, a bright smile on his face. When he nods, Kise bounces like a child incapable of containing their eagerness. "I can't wait."

"I can't either," He starts, sulking like the child he knows he can be at times. "Why don't you talk about yourself? I'm sure I've asked you questions before."

"Eh?" Kise asks, turning to look at him. The blonde smiles uncomfortably and lowers his head slightly as he chuckles, trying to figure out what to say. For a moment it looks like Kise is going to lie, but the blonde seems to make a last minute decision and says, "I don't know. People usually like talking about themselves more than they like hearing about me."

"What kind of people do you hang out with?" Aomine asks, looking towards the other in disbelief and confusion. He knows that Kise got in to a bad relationship with Haizaki, but the idiot can't be so stupid to be a part of such a negligent crowd, right? To prove his internal monologue wrong, Kise shrugs his shoulders and smiles tightly.

"They take care of me." Kise says simply, and Aomine rolls his eyes in response to such a pathetic cover; if such reasoning for bad friends was the truth, that would make for a sad life. The blonde seems to notice his unconvinced expression and grins, "See? Even Aominecchi doesn't like hearing about me."

"Not true," He grunts, pointing the ends of his chopsticks at Kise. "I just don't like the reasoning behind the choices you make."

Brown eyes widen and stare at him in surprise. The chopsticks Kise holds in his hands remain poised at his lips, pressing in to the skin softly. Cheeks flush prettily before Kise laughs heartily, "Aominecchi is strange."

"_I'm _strange?" He asks, "It's the other way around, brat."

"Eh? I'm not a brat! I'm already nineteen!" Kise complains, making a face at the insult.

"Still a brat." Aomine states while shifting so that he can reach across the table for more of the delicious food that had been prepared for him. He should probably have Kise over more to cook for him—this is nice. "So when did you learn to cook like this?"

"Does Aominecchi like it?" Kise asks, and Aomine fixes him with a look. In response, Kise rubs the back of his neck in a sheepish manner and says, "Sorry—habit. Um. When I was seventeen, probably?"

"Ah. Helping your parents?" He asks.

"Something like that." Kise chuckles, taking a small bite of rice.

"Were they upset when you decided not to go to university?" Aomine questions before mumbling quietly under his breath when the team he cheers for fumbles and loses the ball.

"No—they didn't mind, actually. They've given me a lot of freedom." Kise laughs, but it sounds different from how it normally is, like it's forced. "I'm happy with my life right now; I get to meet a lot of interesting people at the shop."

"Doesn't a kid like you ever want more out of life?" Aomine asks curiously; he doesn't think there's anything wrong with Kise's occupation, but the blonde is fresh-faced and naïve. The idiot should still have crazy dreams and aspirations that he wants to fulfill.

Kise pauses before he smiles at Aomine, laughing while casually lifting one of his shoulders in a shrug. "Isn't it natural to want more?"

The nineteen year old beside him is surprisingly insightful. Aomine wonders if Kise is simply a deep thinker, or if perhaps such a thought comes from elsewhere in the boy. With the kid's small smile and dull eyes, Aomine can't help but to wonder if the sad belief is spawned from jadedness.

"Yeah," Aomine says, eyes trailing away from Kise and towards the bowl of rice he holds in his hand. It's empty; he turns back to Kise, extending the dish out in a silent gesture for more. "I guess it is."

As they watch the game, lapsing in to a comfortable silence, he hears the low rumble of thunder in the distance and the downpour just outside his walls. Somehow his team manages to pull a victory, but only through multiple scares and changes of pace. It's exhilarating and nerve wracking all at once. Kise seems to get a kick out of his enthusiasm towards the game and how he yells obscenities at inanimate objects, all while managing to not choke on the obscene amount of food he eats—which is probably the best he's had since moving out to live on his own. As the hours pass, he doesn't even realize when Kise moves to sit on the couch. He doesn't notice when the kid falls asleep, curled in to one corner of the worn out sofa. When he does notice though, Kise looks too relaxed and at peace to disturb. It's still storming anyways—he can't send a kid home in such weather.

With a sigh, he goes to fetch some blankets, tossing them over the blonde like he does with any of his other friends that come over and pass out, only this time is different. Instead of heading off to bed as he usually would, he finds himself sitting on the arm of the couch, peering down at the strange boy he seems to have befriended. Aomine can still imagine the bruises from when they first met and frowns as his eyes trail downward to an exposed neck and collarbone. There are multiple hickies—too fresh to have possibly been from Haizaki. He glares at the offending marks, tracing his fingers lightly over the bruises and remembers: _Kise Ryouta is a __**bitch**_.

* * *

_**A/N: **Well... there we have it. I'm so nervous. OTL Hopefully this is alright though! Thank you for reading, everyone. If you have any free time, please let me know your thoughts. It would be greatly appreciated. (:_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Title: **__Don't Hold Me On a Leash, Hold Me By the Hand (2/2)_  
_**Rating: **__M_  
_**Pairings: **__Aokise, Kagakuro_  
_**Warnings: **__Unbeta'd, OOCness, cultural inaccuracies_  
_**Word Count:**__ 10000 approx._  
_**Summary: **Aomine loves dogs, and maybe the new pet shop employee.  
__**A/N: **Part 2 of the drabble prompted by BunniesDontTalk._

* * *

It takes a couple more days to convince his friend to step foot in to the pet shop. On their way from the basketball courts to the store, Kagami seems to become more of a wreck with each step. A large part of Aomine is amused, but the real comedy begins when they open the door. Kagami and he are tall enough to see over the aisles at the wall of canines, and if not for his being behind his friend, he probably wouldn't see the other again.

"Move." Kagami orders, brows knit and expression anxious and fearful.

Aomine smirks, shoving the other further inside, "Don't you want to get Tetsu the perfect anniversary gift?"

"I'll find it somewhere else." Kagami says stubbornly, stepping this way and that to try and get around Aomine. To prevent this, he makes steps accordingly so that he's always in front of his friend. After a few attempts, Kagami seems to get the point that he won't be going anywhere and groans dismally.

"Go on." Aomine says and motions with a tilt of his head towards the wall of dogs that Kagami looks at warily. With an exasperated sigh, he continues, "They can't get to you. Just look at them."

Reluctantly, Kagami makes his way to the back. For the sake of teasing the other, he doesn't mention anything about which dog is #2. Instead, he forces Kagami to look at the other dogs present that he's absolutely positive the other will shrink away from. It's funny as Hell to watch Kagami act like a scared child, but when someone comes up from behind him and whispers quietly in his ear, 'Ao-min-e-cchi~,' his reaction isn't much better. Aomine leaps away, bumping in to the glass cases while grasping his ear.

"The Hell?" He yelps, and this time Kagami laughs at him. Aomine glares at the other briefly before his eyes trail to a familiar blonde. Although he already knew who it was from the nickname, it's still nice to see Kise's smiling face.

"Good morning!" Kise says exuberantly, rocking back on his heels. "I haven't been able to tell you, but thank you for letting me stay at your place the other night." The words earn him a judgmental look from Kagami; as much as Aomine wants to deny any accusations his friend mentally makes against him, he refrains because of Kise's presence.

"It's this guy's anniversary soon. He wants to get a dog." Change the subject. Good.

"I'm not positive about—"Kagami starts, but Kise is already excited and pulling Kagami towards one of the cases located a few feet away and talking a mile a minute about how sweet the red head is and how they'll definitely find the most perfect anniversary gift ever and how lucky whoever it is Kagami is dating is to have such a thoughtful boyfriend. The ego boost does little more than fluster Kagami; in addition to Kise trying to get the other to hold one of the pups, Aomine is surprised Kagami doesn't pass out.

Ten minutes in, and Kagami has said no to the majority. Even when the other says that they should leave, Kise waves his hands about frantically and says, 'Just one more! This one will be it, I'm sure!' Because Kise has such an enthusiastic air to him, Kagami can't say no and resigns himself to seeing yet another canine.

"You'll like this one." Aomine reassures when Kise runs to the back, claiming that the dog was just being washed by another employee.

"Doubt it." Kagami scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest. The moment Kise comes through one of the aisles though, #2 in hand, Aomine sees a look of recognition flash across his friend's face and knows that, even if the other hates dogs, Kagami is taken with this one.

"This is #2! It's pretty sad, but he's called that because he's always second best to the other puppies. Maybe not for Kagamicchi though?" Kise says hopefully, lifting the dog so that their faces are pressed together and they can pout at the red head together. #2 then starts stretching out his arms, paws reaching out towards Kagami excitedly. Kise continues, "He's very well trained! And he's good with people and other animals. Because he's been here so long, we've had him neutered, and his shots are all up to date."

Hesitantly, Kagami lifts one of his fingers towards the dog. #2 licks the digit once before Kagami is suddenly hidden behind Aomine. Kise laughs heartily and smiles brightly at the two. "What does Kagamicchi think? #2 would love a home."

"He has eyes like Tetsu, don't you think?" Aomine asks, glancing behind him at Kagami.

"Y-yeah." Kagami says. "I'm sure he'd really like this guy. Since I work long shifts, he'd probably appreciate the company as well."

"So?" Aomine prompts.

"Fine." Kagami sighs, looking towards Kise. "Is there any way we can keep him here another week?"

"Of course," Kise says happily, brown eyes sparkling. "If you give us the day and an estimated time, we'll even clean him up and put a bow on him."

"Ah. Thanks." Kagami says as they slowly make their way to the front near the registers. Money is paid and paperwork is filled out; throughout the exchange, Aomine watches out of the corner of his eye at Kise's hand as it moves, and then at the kid's neck which appears blemish free. He's so caught up that he doesn't even realize that his friends finish. Aomine only snaps out of it when he receives a gruff, "Thanks."

"Excuse me?" Aomine asks, a smug smirk pulling at his lips.

"You heard me." Kagami barks, narrowing his eyes at him. The act of rage doesn't last long though, because Kagami pulls back and scratches his head, "Seriously though. He doesn't say anything, but I'm sure he's upset with always being left alone for so long. This gift idea is great so… thank you."

"No problem." Aomine says, because even he has noticed that Tetsu isn't as happy as he once was. It can't be helped with Kagami's work though—work that he needs to get to now before he's late, even. Aomine tells the other they'll meet up later before Kagami excuses himself.

Once the chime goes and the door shuts, Aomine turns back towards where Kise crouches behind the register. The idiot is probably playing with #2 instead of working; he goes to snap at the other to stop being lazy, but stops when he overhears Kise say in a bittersweet tone, '#2 finally got adopted by a good man today, huh? I'm so happy for you!'

It makes him frown and think back to a comment he had made earlier in jest, about Kise wanting to be the one adopted. Maybe that comment holds more truth than he had initially thought. The kid sounds just a little heartbroken at the new development in the shop.

* * *

The first week of his suspension passes without a hitch. Every day during Kise's hours, he'll drop by to chat and play with the pups. On one occasion, when he stops to get himself a coffee, he adds on an order of hot chocolate, which Kise stares at in confusion until Aomine reassures him that yes, it's for the idiot and no one else. The smile he's given is wobbly, but so happy that it temporarily stuns him. It's a simple gift; he doesn't know why it would make the other so pleased. Aomine doesn't complain though, because making Kise smile has become one of the most fulfilling parts of his day. The other fulfilling aspect is actually learning about the kid.

Initially Kise shies away from the opportunity to speak about himself, always attempting to turn the conversation back to Aomine. At some point though, Aomine thinks he's gotten it through the kid's thick skull that it's okay to talk and make someone else listen. With Kise's speaking quirks, Aomine honestly wouldn't mind listening for however long Kise wants to talk, and maybe then some, because whenever the added –ssu tacks on to the end of Kise's sentence, the boy puckers his lips and it's distracting in the best of ways.

Their conversations start generically, about likes and dislikes. Aomine learns that Kise likes the color blue, that he likes autumn and being able to layer his clothing. Kise has a knack for being attracted to expensive things at first glance, but it's the more humble and simplistic things he falls in love with. Sweets and girly dramas are Kise's guilty pleasure, although the blonde admits to not being able to eat many sugary treats because of a silly concern of gaining weight and becoming unattractive. The admittance makes Aomine scoff and promptly bring the idiot a pastry from a nearby bakery a friend of his works in a few hours later. He tells the other that a pretty face doesn't make a person who they are, which seems to startle the blonde for unexplained reasons. When he forces the kid to take at least one bite of what he bought, Kise groans because apparently he loves cinnamon and won't be able to put the treat down now.

A little while later, when a snot-nosed brat comes striding in with his friends, dirty after a day of playing in the park, and holds up a wiggling earthworm to ask if they can feed it to a bird, Aomine learns that Kise has an amusing fear of earthworms. The blonde, who had been restocking, hides behind him and complains loudly; Aomine eventually has to take the critter from the kids and take it back outside to a patch of dirt. When he comes back in, Kise remains far away until Aomine convinces the other that the worm is gone. It's funny. Kise remains watching him cautiously out of the corner of brown eyes, verbally warning Aomine that he hates bugs and how he's not above getting even, if it comes down to it.

At some point, he learns about the more private aspects of Kise's life. Aomine finds out that Kise lives with a friend, and that said friend convinced the owner to give him a job at the shop. Before Kise's current job, he worked in a number of other workplaces: hotels, coffee shops, restaurants—it seems he was fired from all of them, but when Aomine questions why, Kise brushes the matter aside as if it's unimportant. 'I wasn't happy there anyways,' Kise will say, but Aomine notices how the blonde will glance to the left and lower his head slightly, as if ashamed. It makes him wonder, but he chooses not to stress matters Kise would rather keep private.

Someday, he feels Kise will trust him with everything. Until then, Aomine isn't bothered with being patient. When he catches himself thinking such a thing, he chides himself, because who knows if he'll stick around wherever Kise goes. Not that Kise would go anywhere—the idiot embarrassedly admits to never having left the area before, even though the idea of traveling is nice to him. It's sad, but Kise just laughs it off and tells him, 'Maybe someday.'

Maybe someday leaves the possibility for never, but he shakes off the dismal feeling in favor of asking more questions. There's so much to know about Kise—he really does want to know everything.

* * *

"Eh? Why was I with Shougo-kun?" Kise asks, turning to watch him curiously as they walk #2 through a nearby park. It's moderately empty, considering it's a Tuesday morning, but it's more pleasant like this. The background noise is minimal, and the air is crisp with the promise of snow. Aomine remains looking straight ahead, watching as #2 runs ahead to sniff at everything in sight. Later in the evening, Kagami and Tetsu will pick up the dog—before Kise primps the dog, he had requested Aomine and he take it out for some exercise.

Aomine nods, and belatedly wonders if perhaps he's being too personal. "Yeah; he was a dick."

"He wasn't that bad." Kise chuckles. When Aomine looks at the other, brows furrowed in annoyance, Kise beams up at him brightly and in a disarming manner that makes Aomine scoff. As the blonde scuffs his boots over the sidewalk, Kise continues, "I'm serious! I've been in worse relationships."

"What?" Aomine asks, concerned because this kid is nineteen and _why_ would he have other bad relationships like what he suffered through with Haizaki?

"I tend to get myself in to bad relationships." Kise says, tone thoughtful.

"Bad as in…?" Aomine presses.

"This is embarrassing, Aominecchi." Kise laughs, turning to look at him with a flustered grin. When the kid sees how serious he is, Kise pauses and looks forward again. A moment passes, in which neither of them speak. Kise contemplates before breathing deeply and saying, "Um. With teachers. And married women. And then the husbands of those married women… to name a few."

The few named is enough for Aomine, at this point in time. The information is as shocking as it is disturbing, because who would think that this sweet kid would get caught up in such scandalous things? Kise seems to understand just what he's done, as well, and keeps his head lowered from shame and out of embarrassment. Aomine doesn't want the other to close up though, so he continues pressing with a single word, 'Why?'

"I just wanted a place to belong, you know?" Kise says, smiling up at him in a way Aomine has never seen before. The perfect, sunny smile he's used to is replaced by a lopsided quirk of lips, jaded and broken and entirely too old for someone so young.

"What do you mean?" He tries to ask, not comprehending Kise's words at all. Kise belongs with those who love him—with his parents and friends, even with Aomine.

"Oh! Look at #2! He brought us back a stick." Kise laughs, strategically changing the subject while bending down to take the stick #2 brings to them. The blonde grins up at Aomine and waves the piece of wood playfully. Aomine falters briefly, because this smile that he's given—it's Kise's usual smile… but it suddenly looks so much more _dull_. "I bet I can throw this farther than you."

After a brief pause, he smirks, playing off their past interaction as if it hadn't happened or affected him. "You're on." He says, "But if I win, you have to make me dinner again."

Kise accepts his challenge with a smile and throws. Of course, Aomine throws farther, but he has a feeling Kise wasn't trying that hard—as if the idiot wanted to lose for the sake of having an excuse to come to his house again. He's not going to complain; maybe he can wheedle more answers from this enigma beside him.

* * *

When he enters the shop, he's surprised to see one of the older employees working. Kasamatsu and he aren't strangers to one another; they speak idly whenever Aomine chooses to come and visit and the other is working, but as much as he doesn't mind those conversations, Aomine really wishes it were Kise who was working. It's that idiot's hours, so why isn't he in? Disgruntled, he walks further in to the store. When Kasamatsu turns to greet him properly, grey eyes seem to darken. It's an odd look uncharacteristic of the professional employee, but Aomine figures it could be the lighting.

"Hey. Do you know when Kise is getting in?" Aomine asks. "I thought he was supposed to be working now."

"He got caught up with something, so we switched hours for today." Kasamatsu grunts, and okay—it wasn't the lighting. This punk seems to have a problem with him and it makes Aomine's brows furrow. Out of everyone in his life, he always makes sure to stay on good terms with the pet shop employees. They're the ones that let him occasionally hold and play with the dogs, after all.

"You okay?" He asks, walking over towards the register casually.

"Fine." Kasamatsu says, returning to cleaning the counter he had briefly abandoned in favor of glaring at Aomine. The officer simply looks down at the other, watching the dark haired man and waiting patiently. As expected, Kasamatsu's grip on the rag he holds tightens before he glowers at him. "Listen. You had better not hurt Kise, alright?"

What? Where had that come from? Regardless, he narrows his eyes and scoffs, "You have some balls, saying that to an _officer_."

"Kise's been put through enough crap in his life. Don't add to it, _sir_." Kasamatsu bites, a dangerous and protective look in his eyes. Aomine admires the other's steadfast determination and steely tone, but doesn't understand why it's directed at him. He's not close enough to Kise to hurt the other, so what's Kasamatsu going on about?

"I don't know what you're talking about—"He starts, but is interrupted by the chiming of the bell.

Just inside the door, Kise stands with a flushed face and tousled hair. The kid appears to be a bit breathless, but smiles and greets both Kasamatsu and him regardless. Aomine can feel a frown pulling at the corner of his lips, because Kise _limps_ over to where his apron is before shakily tying it around his lean frame. Brown eyes have a far off look to them, content and utterly sated; that combined with how Kise glows, and those fucking bruised lips and pink stained face, tells Aomine that Kise didn't get 'caught up' in something—the idiot was getting _fucked_. Aomine can smell it through the combination of Kise and this unknown man's cologne. It makes him grimace.

Disgusting.

He remembers Haizaki, and the words Aomine had been told and promptly brushed off. Suddenly he feels too hot, too annoyed, too angry. With an ugly scowl, he turns towards Kasamatsu and growls out a harsh, "I don't think you should be concerned about _me _hurting him; he does it well enough himself." Kise's screwing himself over even without Aomine's help, because like Haizaki said, 'He'll bend over for anyone so long as they give him some attention—'

* * *

Knowing that Kise is screwing around with someone is different from knowing that Kise is being screwed by someone. It's stupid of him to even care; Kise is just some kid he saved from being assaulted to the point of hospitalization. At that moment he had admitted to himself that he didn't like the brat, so why did he stick around? He can't even remember how everything happened—just that Kise is damn good at sneaking in to people's lives. It's not like Aomine has been harmed in any way, but he's so _damn _annoyed. It annoys him even more because why the fuck does he care what this idiot does in his spare time?

Damn it.

"So who are you with now?" He asks, voice bitter and harsh and cold. Aomine stands in the entryway to his kitchen, watching Kise who stands at the stove, making the dinner Aomine had won in a bet not too long ago. The blonde isn't limping anymore, and appears put together enough, but the image is burned in to Aomine's mind, and leaves him with a rage that coils low in his stomach.

"Eh?" Kise asks, turning to look over his shoulder at Aomine with wide brown eyes—eyes like a fucking _dog_. There's a soft flush on the kid's cheeks that he barely notices against the artificial lights, but Kise looks away a bit too quickly and Aomine knows that the other is flustered. He knows that the blonde has been caught and that he's about to be lied to. Kise chuckles and shakes his head, "I'm not seeing anyone, Aominecchi!"

A scoff pulls its way past his lips; he doesn't even try to hide it or the annoyed look in his narrowed eyes.

The stove clicks off and Kise turns to look at him, head cocked to the side in confusion. Full lips purse slightly and Kise asks, "Is everything okay, Aominecchi?"

It should be, because what Kise does is his own damn business, but it's not. Nothing is okay right now. Aomine is pissed.

"I'm fine." Aomine grunts, breathing loudly through his nose while moving forward to gather the food to bring to the table. The blonde stands awkwardly for a few moments, confused with his sudden attitude. Kise tries to offset the heaviness in the air by laughing and bringing up Kagami and Tetsu, who had stopped by the shop the other night to pick up #2. Any other time, Aomine would be curious about how the gift had gone over, but right now he's disinterested. Aomine ignores Kise, turns on the television to the game that's playing, and eats. Perpendicular to him, Kise seems to shrink in on himself. It bothers him that Kise doesn't eat as much, but he's afraid that if he opens his mouth to speak, he'll end up yelling.

Instead of taking a chance, Aomine sits in a tense and uncomfortable silence.

* * *

Guilt drives him to go back to the pet shop the day his suspension ends. As he's patrolling, he peers through the shop windows in hopes of seeing a familiar blonde. Surprisingly, Kise isn't there—no one is, for that matter. Aomine figures the blonde must be in the back though. Taking a deep breath, he mentally prepares himself for discarding his pride and asking for forgiveness for how rude he had been a few nights prior. He's gone as far as to pick up those cinnamon treats that Kise seemed to like, so the moron had better forgive him.

Maybe Kise will even smile. Aomine misses seeing it.

After taking a deep breath, he opens the door and is greeted by a gust of warm air. The bell above him chimes, and for the first time, no greeting follows. It unnerves him, but he waits patiently by the register, leaning heavily against the counter. Aomine doesn't really know what to say—he doesn't apologize often. Should he be formal about it? If he tries to sound casual, it would probably come off as insincere. _Shit_! Why does everything have to be so confusing? Maybe Aomine can just leave the cutely wrapped gift, compliments of his baker friend's assistant, with a note and call it good? No. Doing that would be pathetic and—where _is_ everyone?

"Kise?" He calls, glancing about the store. When he doesn't immediately spot anyone, he pushes himself away from the front counter and walks himself towards the back. Maybe the blonde is doing something there. Aomine doesn't know where else he could be.

'Sorry. I apologize. My bad. Ugh, they all sound awful.' Aomine thinks to himself with a grimace. His thoughts on how to give a proper apology are interrupted, however, by odd noises from a room located in the back of the store. It's impossible to discern the noises from the other side of the metal door, but Aomine is immediately on edge. Did Kise lock himself in a room? That idiot.

With a huff, he walks to the door, pushing it open, "Hey—"

He pauses.

_Everything _pauses, and the silence is only interrupted by the sound of the gift he bought Kise dropping to the ground.

"A-Aominecchi!" Kise gasps, voice hitching from both surprise and embarrassment. The blonde's chest is pressed firmly against a table that is pushed against the wall by the door; the kid's pale hands are fisted, and he notices bite marks on two knuckles of the hand Kise has near his face that had obviously been used to stifle his voice. Kise's black shirt is pushed up, exposing a long back, riddled with pink hickies. Khaki pants are around the kid's ankles and an old, fat man's fingers dig in to Kise's hips from the earlier activities the pair had been engaging in as well as from panic. The man fumbles away hurriedly, pulling his dick out of Kise with a wet pop while scrambling to do up his pants. Kise remains frozen, staring up at Aomine with wide, fearful eyes.

Aomine doesn't understand the look.

Kise can live however he damn well pleases.

It's none of Aomine's _fucking_ business.

Regardless, he looks at Kise with disgust before turning on his heel and slamming the door shut. His heart races; he can't seem to get out of the store quick enough, and even when he's outside he can't _breathe_. His chest hurts, and although he tries to convince himself it's because of shock, he knows he's feeding himself bullshit. The main feeling coursing through his body is anger, but beneath that there's a mixture of confusion, annoyance, and jealousy.

"Fuck." He curses, because he doesn't understand why he's feeling as he is.

Aomine didn't like the kid from the moment he had first seen him. Kise is annoying. Kise is _pathetic_. Kise Ryouta is a fucking _bitch_.

* * *

Even if he throws himself in to his work, he can't get the image of Kise being screwed over a table out of his head. Most of the time, he's able to keep his resolve and stay pissed, but on occasion he'll find his mind straying and wondering _why_ such a disgusting old man. These moments lead him to take on extra shifts—more and more until he fails to return to his apartment for a good week. The spare resting area they have in the station is a godsend, as are debit cards for any necessities he finds himself needing, but eventually the chief gets tired of seeing him and forces him home.

Aomine is tired and his back hurts from the couch he's monopolized for the past few days. If only for a proper night's rest, he supposes he could go back to his home for a little while. With a heavy sigh, he drags himself to his apartment complex and up too many flights of stairs. By the time he rounds the corner to get to his door, he's ready to collapse. The cold bites at his exposed flesh, and he really just wants to curl up in his bed and not wake up for a while.

Sleeping, sadly, will have to wait, because a bitch sits just outside his door. Aomine wonders how long Kise has been showing up at the apartment, if the idiot had waited for him although he didn't show up. He doesn't care. As he had told himself earlier, Kise can live however he wants. So can Aomine, for he walks past Kise as if he's another piece of trash on the side of the road before deftly unlocking and pushing open the door to his apartment. The place is too cold inside, but it's probably good the thermostat hadn't been going while he wasn't around. Breathing deeply, he takes a step forward, pausing only when he feels a tug at the bottom of his uniform pants.

"W-wait." Kise starts, teeth chattering from cold. Even without looking down, he can feel Kise's eyes on him, looking up at him pleadingly. It makes him falter—he almost looks, but he steels himself because _no_. Haizaki had told him how Kise is quick to take advantage of others. He won't fall for the blonde's tricks. Realizing this, Kise continues, blue tinged lips parting slightly as they try to form words. "I'm—I'm really sorry."

Liar.

"Get up." Aomine says, pulling himself away from Kise's weak hold. The kid takes a while to stand, joints cracking and aching from remaining in the same place for so long, but Kise shuffles in to Aomine's apartment without another thought, waiting patiently for attention. Aomine doesn't give the brat the satisfaction, choosing instead to silently lead the other through a hallway and in to his room. Awkwardly, the blonde stands just inside of the door; Aomine stands only a few feet ahead, back still turned.

"Will Aominecchi please talk to me?" Kise asks and damn it, _no_, because Aomine doesn't want to talk. Just looking at Kise annoys the shit out of him. The boy starts, "Aominec—chi!"

The sound of Kise hitting the wall isn't as satisfying as he thought it would be. It doesn't quell his anger at all, so he settles on continuing with his impulsive actions, seeking relief, _anything_ to rid himself of his suffocating feelings. With one hand fisted in Kise's shirt, he forces the boy in to the wall before leaning forward and kissing the kid hard. It's not that pleasant of a kiss—their teeth clack together from the force and it hurts like Aomine's chest has hurt since that fucking incident in the shop. The fact that Kise doesn't struggle only pisses him off more, resulting in him biting the other's lower lip harshly. The action causes Kise to gasp and hold on to his arms with freezing hands. Aomine can feel how Kise's body slumps against the wall behind him, and it's _disgusting _how Kise is actually enjoying this. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the moment either though, because Kise feels _good _against him. Aomine lets his instincts take over and, after his rough treatment, he briefly sucks on the other's lower lip before nipping it softly. Kise moans quietly, fingers trembling regardless of their tight grasp upon his arms, and Aomine takes advantage of the too easily granted access to Kise's mouth. Turning his head to the right, he melds their lips together before darting his tongue in to the other's mouth, coaxing lightly with brushes against Kise's until the kid stops acting so timid. As expected, Kise is a good kisser; Aomine would expect nothing less from a brat that gets around though.

Kise breathes through his nose, whining quietly while trailing his hands up Aomine's arms and around the man's neck, grasping desperately at the officer's short hair. Aomine grunts, stretching his jaw more to deepen the kiss as the fist he has on Kise's shirt slowly lowers until it rests a top the kid's hip. Such little contact isn't enough though, so he presses forward, pinning Kise's body to the wall with his own. In response to Aomine's thigh pressing between Kise's legs, the blonde ruts against him helplessly, pulling him closer and encouraging Aomine with desperate pants. The hardness the man feels against his leg makes Aomine roll his own hips in search of friction, and prompts him to push the cardigan Kise wears off along with the other's shirt. Without being told, Kise drops his arms to make the process easier; it makes Aomine wonder how often the blonde has done this exact same thing, which kills his arousal and makes him painfully frustrated.

"Ah!" Kise gasps, shuddering when Aomine trails a hand up the blonde's chest, thumb tweaking across a pert nipple. Aomine pinches the bud between his thumb and forefinger, reveling at the sounds the kid beneath him makes.

When he pulls away from the kiss, Kise complains softly, but Aomine calms him by lightly nipping at the blonde's ear, pulling at the hoop earring Kise wears with his teeth. From there he trails downward, lips lightly brushing against the side of Kise's neck and towards a defined collarbone. His brows furrow when Kise stifles a moan and shudders. Aomine murmurs, "You really are just a bitch, aren't you?"

The result of what he says doesn't register in his head. While he licks and sucks at Kise's collarbone, leaving bruises wherever his lips stray to, Kise remains still. Aomine blows across a dark hicky he leaves, disgusted at the sight of it even when it's _him_ who left it instead of some bastard. The cool air causes Kise to shudder, as does the hand Aomine has on the other's hip that trails back and along the middle seam of Kise's pants, rubbing just so and—"Ah!" Kise moans wantonly, just as Aomine bites down on the junction of the other's neck and shoulder. The blonde shudders against him, and it should be a pleasurable feeling, but to Aomine it's not.

"Willing to bend over for anyone in exchange for a little attention." Aomine continues, glaring at Kise's marred skin. He pulls the blonde towards the bed, pushing him down until Kise lies flat on his back. The bluenette places one knee on the bed and leans forward, eyes glinting as he loosens his tie. He says, "You would let me fuck you, wouldn't you?"

There's a moment of hesitation, but Kise nods. Kise fucking _consents_ to this bullshit and Aomine feels his eyes narrow and his upper lip pull back in to a feral scowl. He's treated this boy like a whore since bringing him inside, and Kise is _okay_ with that? Aomine feels disgusted and makes it known with his expression and tone. "Get the _fuck_ out of my apartment." He says, and Kise stares in shock and desperation. Aomine refuses to say anything more though, and slowly, hesitantly, Kise pulls himself from off the bed.

With a hitched breath, Kise scrambles to pick up his discarded clothing before rushing out of the room. At the sound of retreating footsteps and the slamming of a door, Aomine lets himself fall in to his bed. It takes some effort, but he rolls on to his back and throws his arms across his eyes.

"Fuck." He says, lips trembling because he's so _damn_ frustrated and tired. When he closes his eyes though, all he can see is Kise's hurt face, and how utterly betrayed the boy had looked. The pain in his chest comes back in a way that's impossible to ignore and he curses again.

Why did Haizaki have to be right?

* * *

Being confronted as he's patrolling better not be becoming a thing, because he can't afford to be suspended so often for assaulting annoying citizens. Kasamatsu strides up to him with fiery determination; even before the man speaks, Aomine can see the anger in grey eyes. It makes him want to scoff, because what right does this man have to be angry, especially if it's about that blonde idiot? Steeling himself, Aomine stops walking and glares down at Kasamatsu. With a brusque tone he asks, "Can I help you with something?"

"You can help by _listening_!" Kasamatsu growls as he crowds in to Aomine's personal space. The dark haired man is a number of inches shorter than the officer, but he refuses to be deterred even if he has to crane his neck upward to glower at Aomine. In return, Aomine takes full advantage of the height difference; stormy blue eyes look down with false disinterest and, instead of backing up to give himself space, Aomine remains where he is and straightens his posture to show Kasamatsu that if he tries anything—he'll be taken the _fuck_ down.

"I thought I told you not to hurt him." Kasamatsu barks, and Aomine can see how tense the other is from the straining tendons in the small man's neck. Grey eyes waver slightly back and forth as they stare at him, waiting for an explanation that Aomine doesn't have.

Kise hurt him first, after all, whether he admits it to himself or not. Why should he have to explain himself?

"You had no right doing that to him, you sick son of a—"Kasamatsu starts, but stops when Aomine bares his teeth and narrows his eyes.

"_Watch it_." He breathes, "I'll have you arrested for disrupting the peace."

Aomine's comment causes Kasamatsu to pause and look around at the number of citizens that walk cautiously by them. Begrudgingly, Kasamatsu relents and takes a step back; the menacing look in the other's eyes doesn't fade in the slightest though. The man takes a deep breath, looking downward with drawn brows as he seethes, "Kise is a _mess_ now."

"I'm sure he'll be picked up sooner than later." Aomine says smartly, rolling his eyes in distaste and annoyance, because his words are more than likely true. Someone like Kise won't stay by himself for long; the brat will forget about Aomine the moment some new person walks by that so much as glances in that idiot's direction. Loose fool.

"_Don't_." Kasamatsu warns, voice breaking unnaturally, which causes Aomine to look back at the other in confusion. Instead of looking angry, Kasamatsu looks put out. When the dark haired man turns to look up at him again, it's with a pitiful expression that doesn't match the other's personality at all. Kasamatsu says, "Don't you _dare_ talk about Kise like everyone else."

"Have you ever figured that if everyone is saying it, it's true?" Aomine scoffs, unable to reel in his frustration over such a petty matter.

"You don't know anything about him!" Kasamatsu yells.

"Enlighten me then!" Aomine spits back, because Aomine _knows_ Kise—he wasted too much of his time learning about and trying to understand the bitch only to learn that it didn't even fucking matter, because all that crap isn't needed to get close to Kise. Just _looking_ at the other would ensure Aomine a chance to bed Kise, regardless of if he wanted to or not.

"You don't deserve to know anything about him!" Kasamatsu seethes.

"Who said I even wanted to know him!?" Aomine snaps, and it feels like an out of body experience, because he's so terribly angry and saying things he doesn't mean. "I would be better off if I had never met him!"

Silence. Kasamatsu watches him in shock and Aomine's briefly reminded of the betrayed look that had crossed Kise's face all those night ago. Biting his lower lip, Aomine looks down. He needs to say that he hadn't meant those words—that he's just angry and frustrated, and maybe just a bit hurt. Aomine needs to open his mouth and apologize, but he can't. Kasamatsu breathes deeply and shakes his head in disbelief. "I can't understand why he would cry over someone like you."

Those words cause Aomine to pause. Kise is crying? Over him? That doesn't make sense—Kise should be out whoring around by now. It's been nearly a week and a half, so Kise should have another person to fawn over and spend time with. Aomine's not special. Looking up, he asks, "Why is he crying? He's been through worse, I'm sure."

"Because it's _you_, idiot." Kasamatsu growls.

"What do you mean?" Aomine asks, brows furrowing. Of course he is who he is, but that person isn't someone Kise would go for. He doesn't have wealth and stature—he can't get Kise anything that idiot's heart desires. Hell, Aomine can't even get feelings right, seeing how he never even realized how important he may have possibly been to Kise, fucking or not. That last thought raises another question, and he frowns, "We never fucked."

"That's—"Kasamatsu says, pausing to try to scrub the blush that spreads across his cheeks at Aomine's vulgar language. "You never expected anything from him, like everyone else. You never left when he didn't give you something in return."

Aomine's not following in the least.

"Kise… has issues with abandonment." Kasamatsu starts softly, looking down at the ground nervously. It looks like the man debates with himself on whether to continue the ominous statement, ultimately deciding to do so for the greater good. It makes Aomine wary, because the air around them suddenly feels heavy. Kasamatsu continues, looking up at him warningly, "Listen, I'm only telling you this because you're you, and because Kise won't do it himself. Before you make any more judgments about him, just hear me out. And if what I say changes your mind about him… then—please go to see him. His puppy crush on you is ridiculous, but seeing you and getting closure over this huge misunderstanding would help the both of you, I think."

At the word 'crush,' Aomine's mind seems to shut down. All this time, Kise had a crush on him? Is that how the blonde's escapades with everyone else had started? When he's informed that he's the only one, Aomine has to take a moment to breathe, because Kise—the boy everyone calls a bitch, liked him in an innocently comical way without his even realizing. Aomine hadn't noticed, and isn't even sure if he feels similarly. Such a matter is the least of his concern though, because as Kasamatsu continues, Aomine finds that the happy filling that had lifted his heart suddenly vanishes and sends his emotions in to a plummeting free fall.

* * *

"_Abandoned. Kise was __**abandoned**__." Kasamatsu had said, blinking back angry tears and gritting teeth as he breathed deeply through his nose to steady himself. In the meantime, Aomine had stared at the other in surprise, because what? Kise had been—? "For __**three**__**years**__ he was on his own. No family, no friends; he's been alone. Can you imagine coming home one day, when you're __**sixteen**__, only to find that no one is there? And to live every day waiting, but no one comes back? It pisses me off so much, that parents would do that to a child."_

Aomine sits at his desk at the station, mindlessly filling out reports. Kasamatsu's words still ring through his head. Even with a week having passed, he can't forget. It seems too crazy of an idea, too dramatic, but when he thinks about it, the hints had been there all along. 'Something like that,' Kise had said when Aomine asked if the other had learned to cook to help his family. 'No, they didn't mind, actually,' the blonde said in response to his parents being upset over his not going to university. The most obvious hint though, something he accepted without questions, was Kise's statement, 'They've given me a lot of freedom.' Aomine supposes that yes, a child would have a lot of freedom if no one was around to restrict them.

The pen clacks against his desk when he puts it down. He places his elbows a top the desk and leans his head in to his open hands, digging his palms in to his eyes. There had been no way for him to know about Kise's predicament, but he still feels awful about it. Aomine should have asked more questions, he should have questioned the moments of jadedness Kise allowed him to see.

_Kasamatsu discreetly wiped the back of his sleeve over his eyes before he continued, "I met Kise back when I first started college, when a study group and I used to meet at this coffee shop by Tokyo University. We're friends now, and I'll always care for him, but Kise is an __**idiot**__." There's a brief pause in which Kasamatsu had to force his hands to unclench, "He's an idiot because he tries to get help from others because he doesn't want to be a burden to those who are actually close to him. He—He has this gaping hole in his life from being left behind, and he messes around with all these people because he thinks they can fill it."_

Aomine can understand that logic, no matter how naïve and misguided it may be. Why had he never asked Kise about why he did what he does? When Aomine thinks back on it, there were a number of instances he could have calmly questioned the other, but instead he had become angry, judgmental, contemptuous.

Maybe he had even been jealous.

"_We've fought about his sleeping around so much, but he does it because he says it's the only time he ever feels wanted and loved, even though that's not true in the least." Kasamatsu said, and Aomine could only listen. He had thought he knew Kise, but he hadn't even scratched the surface to see what the kid had been hiding. "People take care of Kise, when he's with them. He pays with his body, and his commitment to them in exchange for necessities and love that's only ever physical."_

Kise is an idiot. A pathetic, annoying idiot. It's these things that Aomine loves though, because even if Kise is a people pleasing bitch with no backbone, Kise is still the kid that Aomine saved from being mugged that one autumn night when the weather was still unbearably hot. Kise is still the brat that gets excited to see him every day and pouts when he doesn't. Kise is still that boy that tells him to be safe whenever he has to go to work, and Kise is still that idiot that smiles at him when he thinks Aomine isn't looking.

Kise is like a dog.

Kise is special.

Kise is the one that makes Aomine's heart beat faster.

Kise. Kise. Kise.

"_He's the naïve type of bastard that will always think, 'This is the one! This is the one!' no matter how many times he's used and thrown away." Kasamatsu sighed, running his hand through his hair before leveling Aomine with a helpless stare—something that no man should be put down enough to give. _

The moment he folds his arms, his head tiredly droops down in to them. Over the past week he hasn't done much of anything. When he goes patrolling, he'll glance through the window of the pet shop. Kise will be there, but his head will be lowered. Whenever the blonde is helping a customer, the boy's smile is strained. It's painful to see Kise so torn up, especially since it's Aomine's fault. He can go apologize, but he can never get himself to grasp the familiar bronze handle to the door and let himself inside. Aomine is afraid of how Kise will look at him—of how he'll look at Kise.

Aomine knows that he's fucked up, but unlike last time, he doesn't think that a bag of cookies and an apology will help. This time, he knows how easily he can manipulate Kise's feelings. He knows that Kise will allow that manipulation too, because Kise is the type to forgive and forget.

He heaves a sigh, burying his head further in to his arms. At some point, Kise's crush must have stopped being one sided. Aomine can't get the kid out of his head. He misses talking to Kise and making the other smile. He misses going on walks and having dinner in his small apartment. He misses Kise complaining about his appearance or about what happened on one of the dramas the idiot watches, and he misses how Kise's eyes would light up upon seeing him. He misses Kise. He wants to see Kise.

"_**You**__ were supposed to be the one."_

He wants to see Kise so fucking badly.

* * *

For some reason, whenever Aomine has a problem, he goes to Kagami. The matter at hand is no exception. As he waits for the other to pick up the phone, he leans back in his chair, propping his feet a top his desk. Aomine hasn't figured out how he's going to word the situation just yet, but Kagami will understand no matter how jumbled Aomine's explanation may be. Knowing this, he breathes deeply, and when the other picks up his call, Aomine blurts, "What would you do if you called someone you like a whore?"

There's a brief pause.

"Are you serious?" Kagami asks.

Aomine groans at the response, dropping his feet so that they're back on the floor. Leaning forward in his seat, he rests his forehead on the edge of his desk and waits. Of course he's serious, he's _always_ serious about these sorts of things. Kagami knows this and sighs, "Have you tried apologizing yet?"

"I'll be forgiven if I do that." Aomine says.

"Isn't that the point?" Kagami grumbles.

"It wouldn't be sincere." Aomine sighs. "This is the type of person that would forgive me if I were to hit them; I don't want something so insincere—"

"You didn't hit anyone, did you?" Kagami snaps. "I'll kick your ass, Ahomine!"

"Shut up! I didn't hit anyone!" Aomine growls. "I was just saying."

"Oh. Well what I'm saying is to grovel. Make it up to them." Kagami says simply, and Aomine absolutely loves how his friend makes things seem so easy, and how the other man takes him seriously without laughing. If he weren't in the office, he'd consider spilling the whole story to the other, but one of his coworkers watches him cautiously already, so he refrains. Maybe next time.

"If Aomine-kun does not put aside his pride, the least he could do is allow himself to be kicked in the face for such an offensive comment." Tetsu's voice filters through the speaker, and Aomine's eye twitches. Damn speakerphones. He hears Kagami telling Tetsu to be quiet, but then there's a bark and it's the other way around. Tetsu continues, "Does Aomine-kun love this person?"

He doesn't answer for a while, but when he does, he's outside of the police station and pulling on his coat. "I have to go," Aomine says, and when he hangs up, he finds that his legs naturally start moving faster, faster, _faster_ until he's running.

It's been three weeks and he _needs_ to see Kise.

* * *

By the time he makes it to the shop, he's sweating and gasping for breath. Instead of stopping to compose himself, he pulls the door open and forces his way to the register. The person currently paying for something complains when Aomine cuts in line, but he quickly pulls out his badge and growls at the other to get out. His tone must be intimidating, because the businessman quickly backs off and hurries out of the store. With that distraction gone, Aomine turns to face forward. Kise stands behind the counter, staring at him with a mixture of awkwardness and surprise. Aomine painfully notes how strained the other's smile is, and how the greeting he receives is wary.

The blonde shuffles from one foot to the other anxiously, refusing to meet Aomine's eye. The response makes him swallow thickly, but this is to be expected. It's been a long time, and before that Aomine had done something insensitive and cruel. As he catches his breath, it's uncomfortably silent. How many times has he come in to this shop? How many times has he stood across from Kise and had casual conversations and laughed at stupid jokes? With one last deep breath, he looks directly at Kise and says, "I'm sorry."

The words cause Kise to look up at him, brown eyes shining hopefully. It's what Aomine expected, but he shakes his head, because he's not going to take advantage of Kise like that. "Don't," He starts again, expression more vulnerable than he's ever let it be before. It's just been so long though—and he's tired and wants everything to be okay again. He's _desperate_ to have things be okay again. "Don't look at me like that. Don't you_ dare_ forgive me for what I did."

Kise laughs softly while looking down. The kid pushes some of his fringe behind his ear and says, "What happened wasn't a big deal, Aominecchi."

"It was a big deal, damn it!" Aomine snaps, brows furrowing and hands clenching. He leans forward against the counter; the movement causes Kise to look up, and when Aomine establishes eye contact he continues, "You don't deserve to be treated like that. You deserve better!"

Kise doesn't look too convinced, but Aomine found his resolve the moment Tetsu had asked him that single question. If Kise can't believe that he deserves something more, then Aomine will convince the idiot otherwise. Aomine will show Kise how he should be treated, how he should be loved and cared for—Aomine will do everything. Aomine won't let Kise hurt himself anymore, and he won't let Kise wander astray or feel abandoned. Their connection has become too strong, and Aomine's love is too deep.

"I want to treat you better." Aomine amends, struggling to keep eye contact. He hates being so open, but if it's for Kise, Aomine will suck up his pride and be honest in ways that he struggles to be with himself. He breathes, finally succumbing to lowering his head; Aomine's face burns, his heart beats quickly and his palms sweat. "I want to show you how much better you deserve, and I want to be the person that deserves you."

Blue eyes glance up and meet brown, but before Aomine can discern the look in Kise's eyes he's looking back at the counter. He rubs his palms over the material of his uniform pants and grits his teeth, "I'm going to work my ass off to earn your forgiveness, and I'm going to show you just how important you are, if you'll give me a chance. I don't expect one, after what happened last time, but..."

"This sounds like a love confession, Aominecchi." Kise laughs softly, awkwardly, and in Kise's brown eyes there looks to be hope that the other tries desperately to put out.

"Maybe it is." Aomine breathes, and Kise looks up at him with wide eyes filled with disbelief. The kid starts to shake his head, and Aomine can clearly understand what Kise is thinking, 'Not again. I can't do this again. Not with you, please.' To quell that worry, he continues, "But if you're not ready to hear it yet, then it can wait. I'll prove it to you first."

"How?" Kise asks, looking at him from beneath golden lashes.

Aomine lets one side of his mouth quirk in to a small smile and he lifts one of his shoulders in to a shrug that shows all of his uncertainties. As he reaches in to the breast pocket of his uniform, he pulls out a popsicle stick and places it a top the counter, pushing it until it's in front of Kise. "I don't know yet," He starts, "Maybe I can start by taking you out though?"

* * *

At that time, Kise hadn't answered. The blonde had just stood quietly in fearful contemplation. It made Aomine wonder how many other people could have asked Kise out like that, only to turn around and backhand the kid later. '7 o'clock. I'll be in the park if you want to go,' Aomine had said, and though it's nearing ten past eight now, he stubbornly remains seated on a park bench. If Kise doesn't show up tonight, Aomine will go to the shop tomorrow. If Kise needs to see how serious Aomine is—then he'll show him. Sighing, he leans back in to the bench and admires the snow. At first he had cursed it, but now that he's as cold as he is, he doesn't mind.

By the time 9 o'clock rolls by, he's dozing. There's a small pile of snow building a top his head and shoulders; when a crunching sounds from behind him, he doesn't even realize. It takes Kise's voice, soft and hoarse, to snap him back in to awareness. "I'm not dating material."

Aomine lifts his head and turns to his left where Kise had lowered himself to sit. Kise is bundled up in multiple layers and a chunky scarf, the kid's nose is pink from cold, and brown eyes are red and swollen. Although Kise's words click in his head, he refrains from speaking. Right now, Kise needs to talk. Aomine faces forward again, looking out at the thin layer of snow coating the park grounds. The street light above them buzzes and the wind blows softly, and beside him Kise breathes quietly.

"When I was sixteen, my parents didn't come home one day." Kise starts again, ungloved fingers brushing together at the fingertips nervously. The kid's voice is shot; Aomine realizes it's from crying, though he doesn't know about what. "They didn't come back any other day, either."

Aomine knows these things, and he knows Kise has never talked about it to anyone besides Kasamatsu. It's painful hearing Kise say these things, but he breathes through it, because this is what Kise needs. This is what Aomine needs too—honesty. Vulnerability.

"I dropped out of high school to work full time. At all my workplaces, I would end up sleeping with customers, so I would be fired." Kise says, "They would all say that they loved me—they would take me out for meals, and buy me gifts, and let me sleep in their homes."

It takes Kise a bit longer to continue, and Aomine takes the time to note how the other worries the corner of a plump lower lip before lowering his head and continuing, "Sometimes, they would want me to do things that I didn't want to. It would be scary, or it would be humiliating, or it would hurt, but I would never say no because I was afraid I would be kicked out. "Kise pauses to laugh self-deprecatingly, raising one hand to wipe away the tears that gather at the corner of his eyes, "In the end I was though—"

The truths he's told is more detailed than what Kasamatsu had told him, and at the same time it's equally as vague. Aomine wants to know more, but more than sating his curiosity, he wants to comfort Kise. He's the type of man that expresses his feelings through actions better than words, but after what he had done, he's limited himself. Right now he can't even hug the other or brush their shoulders together without being overcome by guilt; Aomine can't do anything to make Kise feel better and not so alone. Kise sniffles and continues his last statement, "—seventeen times, and I don't want Aominecchi added to that number. I like Aominecchi too much, and I don't think I would be able to take it if you were to leave like everyone else."

Kise's eyelashes clump together from tears, and brown eyes remain downturned to look at pale fingers that Aomine knows must be cold. The blonde adds with a cough, lowering his head just a little more, "That… I just wanted Aominecchi to know that." The kid pushes himself from off of the park bench and smiles down at him with a strained grin, faking it for all he's worth. Kise reaches in to the pocket of his cardigan, pulling out the popsicle stick Aomine had left at the store before handing it to him, "Thank you for everything, Officer Aominecchi."

Aomine always knew he hated this kid—always knew the brat was annoying as fuck.

"You're such an idiot," Aomine grunts, reaching out to take the damn popsicle stick. He sees Kise swallow thickly and lower his eyelids in attempt to bay tears, thinking that Aomine's feelings would be swayed by jadedness, but nothing has changed. Aomine still loves Kise, and still wants to prove just how much, so he reaches past the stick in order to grasp the other's wrist. The blonde starts in response, but Aomine simply stands and maneuvers his hand until he holds Kise's loosely. The popsicle stick drops to the snowy ground at their feet, and as Aomine looks in to Kise's eyes, he squeezes the other's hand. When he brings Kise's hand to his face, the other tenses slightly, but Aomine simply breathes on the numbed hand, rubbing it between his own before lightly brushing his lips over Kise's fingertips. "Instead of thinking of me as the eighteenth person who could abandon you, think of me as the first that will stay."

At his actions, Kise flushes. A blonde head shakes back and forth, and Aomine marvels at how beautiful Kise looks when the other isn't putting on an act. It's amazing how much younger the other appears, and just how honest Kise's expressions can be. Never before had he seen Kise look fearful or hurt, sad or exhausted, but now it's out in the open and Aomine loves that. Making this Kise before him smile is what he wants—making this Kise happy is what Aomine wants. _Kise _is what Aomine wants.

He just hopes Kise isn't too jaded to want to try, but then Kise's fingers curl around his hand and the boy shuffles in to him, resting his head on Aomine's shoulder. Aomine lowers his head, breathing in Kise's scent with a sigh. "I'm scared," Kise says, and Aomine only wraps his free arm around the other comfortingly.

"I know." He murmurs.

"What if you leave?" Kise asks.

"Who says I will?" Aomine returns, and they stand in silence with the snow falling around them.

"Does this mean you're adopting me?" Kise asks, and Aomine immediately scoffs, pulling back to look down at the other incredulously. His lips pull upward at one corner and he shakes his head back and forth. Kise seems confused at his denial, but Aomine settles back in to their hug and sighs.

"You're no dog. And I don't want a kid just yet." Aomine says with a slight laugh. "If you want to be mine so badly though, think of yourself as Aomine Daiki's boyfriend."

Kise nods in to his neck, and Aomine can feel how Kise's lips spread in to a soft smile. "Aomine Daikicchi's boyfriend, huh? Does that make Aominecchi, 'Kise Ryouta's' boyfriend'?"

"Yeah." Aomine says, sighing contentedly. "Whatever you want, idiot."

"Then… maybe a date." Kise says, and Aomine grins because this is progress, and this is his chance. He nods his consent, but neither makes a move to leave. It's comfortable and warm right here, wrapped around one another. Once they move, they're going to face a number of problems. Aomine doubts Kise will succeed in not slipping back in to old habits, and Aomine doubts he'll always keep his resolve to not take advantage of Kise's need to please, but they'll work on it, because Aomine doesn't plan on leaving Kise, doesn't plan on adding to the sad number of abandonments. No, he's going to stick with Kise, and he's going to love Kise and make him smile. Unlike the others before him, he's going to cling tightly to Kise's hand instead of choking him with a leash, because Kise is the annoying brat he's in love with, and Kise deserves nothing less than to be shown that every day.

* * *

_**A/N: ** __It. Is. COMPLETE! OTL This was a real joy to write, and I really hope you enjoyed it, BunniesDon'tTalk. Actually, I hope everyone enjoyed it. Thank you so much for taking the time to read! And yes, let me know your thoughts guys. C':_


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